Displaying links at varying levels of prominence to reveal emergent paths based on user interaction

ABSTRACT

Links in a system may be displayed at varying prominence based on user interaction with the links. Link paths chosen by users become apparent by virtue of display prominence of the links. A link may be displayed with greater or lesser prominence corresponding to the propensity of users to interact with the link. Prominence values that affect a prominence at which links are displayed may be modified based on user interaction information. Prominence values may further automatically decay, possibly over time or according to user interaction with the links. Using and modifying prominence values in this manner, links that emerge with greater prominence may form one or more “paths” that users can readily follow. Much as in the natural world where pheromones deposited by ants attract other ants to desirable paths, user interaction information can be advantageously used to automatically identify more desirable link paths to a resource.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/012,880, filed Dec. 15, 2004, the priority of the filing date of which is hereby claimed under 35 U.S.C. §120, and the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the display of information, such as links, by computer systems and other devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Computer networks are well known for providing communication between different computing systems to enable one system to share information with another system. For example, a computer system may store information in pages. Such pages may include, but are not limited to, Web pages, documents, files, etc., that are stored or generated dynamically on local or remote computing systems. Pages are often accessed in reference to a Uniform Resource Identifier (“URI”), such as by entering a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) into a Web browser. Pages may also be accessed by sending a File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”) command, or otherwise invoking a computer process to obtain access to a page. In circumstances where a computer network is involved, a client system can access pages using a network address that identifies the desired page in the computer network. Computer networks range from local area networks to wide area networks to global networks including the Internet. The Internet, in particular, enables users to access a large number of pages.

In the realm of the World Wide Web (“the Web”), typical computer users access Web pages by instructing a browser operating at their local client computer to transmit a request for a Web page using a URL. Domain name servers direct the Web page request to one or more server computers that correspond to the network domain identified in the URL. When the server computers receive the Web page request, the server computers transmit markup code that embodies the Web page to the client computer of the requesting user. The user's browser receives the markup code and displays the Web page to the user.

Pages transmitted to users often include various hyperlinks that point to or link to network addresses of other pages. Such pages may contain large numbers of hyperlinks, with many of the hyperlinks previously unseen by the user. If a page includes a description of the content linked to by the hyperlinks, it will usually be short and may not be detailed enough to help the user determine which, if any, of the hyperlinks will likely be helpful or useful to select or “click-through” in order to visit the linked-to page.

Some browser application programs are configured to change the color of a hyperlink when the user has previously clicked through the hyperlink. For example, a browser application may display a hyperlink in purple to indicate the hyperlink has previously been clicked through by the user. If the user has not previously clicked through a hyperlink, the browser displays the hyperlink in another color (e.g., blue). Because of the large number of hyperlinks available on typical Web pages, users may find it very difficult to identify which hyperlinks are more likely to be useful to them based only on a brief description (if any) and whether or not they have previously clicked through the hyperlink. This same problem occurs with most “history” or “favorites” lists provided by application programs, because the hyperlinks provided in such lists are typically not differentiated from each other when displayed to the user. After a list of hyperlinks grows beyond a certain size, the user may not be able to remember which hyperlinks have been helpful in the past and which hyperlinks are less useful or are no longer used.

Given the problems and shortcomings noted above, it is apparent that a method and system that helps users identify which hyperlinks have been used more frequently in the past or are considered more helpful or useful will have significant benefits, particularly if the systems and methods require minimal or no effort on the part of the user.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one aspect, embodiments disclosed herein may be used to facilitate a presentation of links with varying prominence based on interaction of one or more users with the links. By tracking user interaction with links and accordingly adjusting the prominence at which links are displayed, more popular or more useful or valuable link paths chosen by users will tend to be reinforced through increasing prominence of the links in the link paths. Likewise, when users choose not to interact with particular links, the prominence of display of such links may be diminished. Emergent properties in the link paths chosen most often by users thus become apparent, without requiring centralized management or prediction of the link paths.

As discussed herein, aspects of the invention may be contemplated in view of natural processes that have been shown to reveal emergent properties in link paths. Ants, for example, following different paths deposit a trail of pheromones to which other ants are attracted. The trail of pheromone deposits decays exponentially over time. Other factors being equal, the overall amount of pheromone present on a given pathway varies inversely with the length of the path. Shorter pathways become more heavily saturated with pheromones, which in turn tend to attract more ants to those pathways and away from the alternatives, in a positive feedback loop. The vast majority of ants end up following the shortest pathway.

In context with the present disclosure, a link may be displayed with greater or lesser prominence corresponding to its popularity as indicated by the propensity of users to interact with the link, e.g., to hover over, follow, or “click-through” the link. Generally speaking, the more often users interact with a link, the more prominent the link becomes, typically up to a predetermined maximum prominence. Conversely, the less often users interact with a link, the less prominent the link becomes, typically down to a predetermined minimum prominence.

In a hypertext embodiment, a user who has never before visited a particular Web page, or who has not visited the page recently, may readily ascertain which link or links on that page are currently most popular (and, presumably, most valuable) by virtue of the prominence at which the links are presented, and may readily follow such links from one page to another. Links that emerge with similar prominence may form paths that users can readily follow through the Web.

As previously noted, apparatus and methods described herein may be used to facilitate a presentation of links with varying prominence based on interaction of one or more users with the links. For example, one method disclosed herein may be used to affect a display of links in a system having resources with links to other resources. The method includes receiving information concerning user interaction with a link in a set of links. The links in the set of links are traversable so as to provide a user with a path to a resource. Associated with the set of links is prominence data for affecting the prominence at which the links in the set of links are to be displayed.

The method further includes automatically modifying the prominence data associated with the set of links based on the received user interaction information. The prominence data may be increased or decreased, for example, to vary the prominence at which the links in the set of links are to be displayed relative to the prominence at which a link not in the set is to be displayed. The elements of receiving user interaction information and automatically modifying the prominence data of a link may be repeated so that a prominence of links providing a traversable path to a resource is modified on a continuing basis. Links providing a more desirable or preferred path to a resource emerge with greater prominence and increase a likelihood that a subsequent user seeking the resource will traverse the same path.

In accordance with another embodiment, a method is provided for facilitating a display of links at varying prominence in a computing system. The method include associating prominence values with links in the computing system, wherein the prominence values affect a prominence at which links in the computing system are displayed; receiving information concerning user interaction with a first link in the computing system; automatically modifying the prominence value of a second link in the computing system based on the received user interaction information; and causing the prominence values associated with the links to automatically decay. The first and second links, in this regard, may be the same link or alternatively may be different links.

Prominence values for multiple links may be modified at the same time. For example, the prominence value of a first link may be increased (to enhance the prominence of the first link) while the prominence value of a second link may be decreased (to diminish the prominence of the second link). Furthermore, a prominence value may be associated with a group of links and may be automatically modified based on received user interaction information.

It should be understood that a link may have two or more prominence values associated therewith. In such embodiments, the prominence value of the link that is modified may depend on the received user interaction information. Alternatively, each of the prominence values of a link may be modified based on the user interaction information. Each prominence value of a link may also be used to affect a different display parameter of the link when the link is displayed. If desired, the link may be displayed in accordance with a prominence value chosen based on a context in which the link is to be displayed. Moreover, different prominence values of the link may be configured to decay according to different methodologies.

In yet another aspect, the prominence value of a link may be modified differently based on an identification of a user associated with the user interaction information that is received. The prominence value may also be modified differently based on the timing of a user's interaction with the link. Moreover, user interaction information may be received from a first user and the prominence data of a link may be modified to affect a display of the link to another user who is different from the first user.

In some embodiments, the prominence values or prominence data associated with the links may be configured to decay over time. For example, the prominence values may decay according to an exponential, logarithmic, or linear function, as may be desired. In other embodiments, the prominence values may be configured to decay according to user interaction with the links.

In accordance with yet another embodiment, an article of manufacture comprising a tangible computer-accessible medium is provided. The contents of the computer-accessible medium direct a computing system to associate a prominence value with a set of links. The links in the set of links are traversable so as to provide a path to a resource. The prominence value of the set of links affects a prominence at which the links in the set of links are displayed. The computing system is further directed to receive information concerning user interaction with a link in the set of links and automatically modify the prominence data associated with the set of links based on the received information. The prominence at which the links in the set of links are displayed is thus modified. If desired, the prominence value of the set of links may be configured to decay over time or according to user interaction with the plurality of links.

Yet another embodiment described herein provides a method for exposing, from a plurality of links, a set of links forming a desirable path to a destination. In one aspect, the method includes tracking user interaction with a plurality of links, wherein one or more sets of links within the plurality of links may form a path to the destination. As user interaction with the plurality of links is tracked, a prominence of each link with which a user interacts may be adjusted, so that the set of links forming a more desirable path to the destination is displayed with greater prominence. Similarly, if desired, a set of links forming a less desirable path to the destination may be displayed with lesser prominence. The method may further comprise deleting a set of links forming a path to the destination based on diminished user interaction with the links in the set of links. In addition, the prominence at which the set of links forming a more desirable path to the destination may be configured to automatically decay. Such decay can occur over time or according to tracked user interaction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram showing one exemplary environment in which embodiments of the invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of one exemplary method for retrieval of prominence data associated with hyperlinks in a page on a computer network;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of one exemplary method for the display of hyperlinks and storage of prominence data provided in association with hyperlinks in a page;

FIG. 4A is a block diagram showing exemplary components that may be incorporated in a client system as depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4B is a block diagram showing exemplary components that may be incorporated in a page server as depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4C is a block diagram showing exemplary components that may be incorporated in a prominence server as depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary data structure that may be used to store data in the prominence database depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a display diagram showing a typical Web browser with a Web page having hyperlinks displayed at various levels of prominence;

FIG. 7 is a display diagram showing a typical application program with a “favorites” list that has hyperlinks displayed at various levels of prominence;

FIG. 8 is a display diagram showing a typical Web browser having a feedback toolbar with voting buttons that allow a user to provide feedback about a clicked hyperlink;

FIG. 9 is a display diagram showing a typical Web browser having a feedback window with check boxes that allow a user to provide feedback about a clicked hyperlink; and

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of one exemplary method for retrieval, modification and storage of prominence values associated with links in a plurality of links.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 provides an exemplary overview of one computing environment 100 in which embodiments of the invention may be implemented. The depicted environment includes a page server 116 and one or more client systems 112, 114 communicatively connected by a network 106. The client system 112 is shown associated with a user 108, while the client system 114 is shown associated with a user 110.

Further depicted in FIG. 1 is a prominence server 102 that is communicatively connected by the network 106 to the client systems 112, 114 and to the page server 116. The prominence server 102 is also shown with a direct communication link to a prominence database 104.

As will be described below in regard to exemplary embodiments of the invention, the page server 116 (which may be one of numerous page servers connected to the network 106) is configured to provide one or more pages to the users 108, 110 that are operating the client systems 112, 114, respectively. The pages stored on the page server 116 are addressable by a network address that identifies the particular pages in the network. Such pages may include, but are not limited to, Web pages, files, documents, media streams, etc., that are located or generated dynamically on a computing system that is local or remote to the page server.

It should be understood that the term “network address” used in connection with different exemplary embodiments of the invention herein may refer to any address or identifier that identifies a page on a computing system. The page may be located on a local computing system and thus identified by a local address (e.g., drive identifier and file identifier). The page may be located on a remote computing system and thus identified by a remote computer address (e.g., network domain identifier and file identifier). Appropriate page-specific identifiers may also be simply embedded or otherwise associated with the pages. Additionally, “pages” as described herein may include drop-down lists, such as the “Favorites” and “History” lists provided by Web browsers and other application programs, which may be displayed by invoking a program vector, command, or computer program instruction. Drop-down lists of this type are typically stored on a user's local computer, but alternatively may be stored on a remote computer.

A user, such as user 108, may operate a client system, such as client system 112, to request a page from the page server 116 via the network 106. The network 106 may be a Local Area Network (“LAN”), a larger network such as a Wide Area Network (“WAN”), or a collection of networks, such as the Internet. Protocols for network communication, such as TCP/IP, are well known to those skilled in the art of computer networks. As further described herein, the user 108 may also operate the client system 112 to click on hyperlinks and communicate feedback to the prominence server 102. Prominence data stored in the prominence database 104 may be later retrieved and used to determine a parameter used to denote the prominence of a hyperlink displayed to the user.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art and others, FIG. 1 provides a simplified example of just one suitable computing environment for implementing embodiments of the present invention, and does not limit the invention thereto. In some embodiments, the computing systems shown, e.g., the page server 116, the client systems 112, 114, and/or the prominence server 102, may be implemented in a single computing system and thus not require network protocols for communication between the combined systems.

Also discussed herein are examples in which prominence data (which may include various user interaction information, prominence values, and/or parameters determined therefrom) are stored and retrieved from a prominence database 104. It should be understood and appreciated that the prominence database 104, in practice, may represent multiple repositories of information that may reside in multiple computer systems that are possibly remote from each other and unrelated to each other. Moreover, from the standpoint of the repositories, the information in the multiple repositories may not be considered “prominence data,” but may be retrieved and used in accordance with principles of the invention to determine scores and/or parameters that affect the display of hyperlinks at various levels of prominence. The information may be specially stored in the repositories for this purpose, or may be ordinary data collected for other purposes. Such data may, for example, be retrieved on-the-fly in accordance with principles of the invention when prominence data is required.

When software formed in accordance with the invention is implemented in one or more computer systems, for example of the type illustrated in FIG. 1, the computer systems provide a way for users to access pages, retrieve previously stored prominence data for hyperlinks in these pages, click-through hyperlinks, and record feedback relative to the clicked hyperlinks. Displaying hyperlinks at various levels of prominence enhances the user's computing experience by visually identifying those links that may be more helpful or useful to the user.

Prior to discussing exemplary computer architectures for implementing a client system, page server, and prominence server as depicted in FIG. 1, a discussion of exemplary methods for implementing embodiments of the invention is provided. FIGS. 2 and 3 are flow diagrams of exemplary methods 200 and 300 used to store and retrieve prominence data associated with hyperlinks on a page, and determine parameters for display of the page in accordance with the prominence data.

Exemplary Methods

The method 200 of FIG. 2 begins at block 202 by receiving an identity of a page, such as a network address of a page, on a computer network. The network address may be received directly from the client system of the user (or a proxy server representing the client system) or it may be received from a page server that has received a request for a page from the user. For example, the client system 112 may request a page from the page server 116 by transmitting the network address of the page to the page server 116. Contemporaneously, the client system 112 may transmit the network address to the prominence server 102. In other embodiments, the client system 112 may communicate only with the page server 116, and the page server 116 may in turn communicate the network address of the requested page to the prominence server 102 with an identity of the user that is to receive the page. In either case, the prominence server 102 uses prominence data from the prominence database 104 to determine one or more display parameters for hyperlinks on the requested page, and communicates the display parameters to the client system 112.

In yet other embodiments, the client system 112 may communicate only with the prominence server 102. In that case, the prominence server 102 requests the page from the page server 116, uses prominence data from the prominence database 104 to determine one or more display parameters for hyperlinks on the page, and then delivers the requested page and display parameters to the client system 112 for displaying the page to the user. Alternatively, the prominence server 102 may modify the requested page with the display parameters and deliver the modified page to the user.

As will be described herein, in some embodiments, the method 200 may query the prominence database 104 for prominence data associated with each hyperlink currently on the page. To do this, a copy of the page may need to be retrieved from the page server 116, as indicated in block 204. Prominence data for each of the hyperlinks on the page may already be stored in the prominence database 104. However, depending on the process used to update the prominence database 104, the page may include hyperlinks that do not yet have prominence data associated therewith in the prominence database 104. For example, hyperlinks that were recently added to the page may not have been added yet to the prominence database 104. Therefore, as will be described below, the method 200 may query the prominence database 104 for prominence data associated with each hyperlink on the page, and add any hyperlinks in the page that are not found in the prominence database 104 to the prominence database 104.

In other embodiments, the method 200 may use the analyzed address from block 206 (discussed below) to query the prominence database 104 for only those hyperlinks that are already in the prominence database 104. In that case, the page would not need to be retrieved from the page server 116 before querying the prominence database 104, and block 204 may be skipped. If block 204 is skipped, hyperlinks on the page that are not in the prominence database 104 may be added at another time, possibly at another point within method 300, for example.

Once the network address of the page is received, e.g., by the prominence server 102, one or more computer processes operating at the prominence server 102 may analyze the address of the page to strip off extraneous information, as indicated in block 206. As will be understood from the description herein, prominence data associated with a hyperlink may be stored in connection with all or some of the network address of the page on which the hyperlink is found. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, prominence data associated with a hyperlink is stored in association with a portion of the network address that can still serve to identify the page in the network.

A requested page may be a Web page, for example, located by a network address in the form of a URL. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the client system 112 (or a proxy server operating with the client system 112) communicates the URL “www.xwebdomain.com/session?id=2” to a page server at www.xwebdomain.com using hypertext transfer protocol. In this example, the URL contains session-identifying information particular to a user that is not necessary to identify the requested Web page in the network. This URL is parsed by the computer process referenced in block 206 to identify the portion of the address that uniquely identifies the Web page but without the session-specific information, which in this example may be “www.xwebdomain.com.” The identifying portion of the address could also be further reduced to “xwebdomain.com” so that prominence data for “www1.xwebdomain.com,” “www2.xwebdomain.com,” etc., are all aggregated under the same identifier. In other embodiments, the entire network address (e.g., entire URL or other computer address), or a different portion of the network address, may be used for storing and retrieving prominence data.

Returning to FIG. 2, once the address of the page is parsed to obtain a shorter but uniquely-identifying portion, the identifying portion is used to query a prominence database 104 (block 208) to determine whether the user or any groups to which the user belongs have previously stored prominence data in association with the page. In other embodiments, the prominence database 104 may be queried for any prominence data associated with the hyperlinks, regardless of any user or group associations with the data. If relevant prominence data exists in the prominence database 104, the prominence data is retrieved and used to determine one or more parameters that can be used to denote the prominence of hyperlinks displayed to the user (described below in regard to blocks 218 and 222). The database may be queried for the prominence data of each hyperlink separately or, alternatively, one query may be used to retrieve the prominence data of all hyperlinks in the page.

At decision block 210, based on the data received from the prominence database 104, the method 200 determines if there are hyperlinks on the page for which prominence data is not found in the prominence database 104. This may occur, for example, if a hyperlink was recently added to the page, and no prominence data for the hyperlink has yet been stored in the prominence database 104. If prominence data for a hyperlink is not found in the prominence database 104, the method 200 may initialize a set of prominence data for each new hyperlink in block 216. In one embodiment, the count of page views (FIG. 5, 712) of the page and the count of click-throughs (FIG. 5, 714) for the new hyperlinks may be initialized to zero. In another embodiment, the count of page views may be initialized to the number of times the current user or all users within the user's group have viewed the page. In yet other embodiments, the count of page views may be initialized to the number of times the page has been viewed by all users. Other data associated with the new hyperlinks, such as one or more prominence scores (FIGS. 5, 720, 722 and 724), may also be initialized to zero.

At block 217, the method 200 may identify and delete from the prominence database 104 any hyperlinks that no longer appear on the page. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, certain hyperlinks, such as customized Web views, targeted content, banner advertisements, etc., may appear intermittently on a page. Therefore, embodiments of the invention may be implemented with criteria that determine the manner in which hyperlinks are added to or deleted from the prominence database 104. For example, in one embodiment, a hyperlink may be deleted from the prominence database 104 if the hyperlink does not appear on the page for a certain amount of time, e.g., a hyperlink may be deleted if it does not appear on the page for two or more days. In other embodiments, a hyperlink may be deleted if it does not appear on the page after a certain number of page views. For example, an implementation of this embodiment may, for example, delete any hyperlinks that do not appear in twenty page views.

At block 218, one or more scores (FIGS. 5, 720, 722, and 724) are calculated from the recently retrieved or recently initialized prominence data and used to determine one or more parameters affecting a display of a corresponding hyperlink. Hyperlinks that had their prominence data initialized in block 216 may include an initialized score that corresponds to a certain display parameter and may not need their scores to be calculated. In one embodiment of the invention, an initial score may be used to determine a display parameter until the hyperlink has been on the page for a certain number of page views (ten, for example). This may limit the prospect of providing misleading prominence characteristics that may occur due to a small sample of page views from which to determine the score, and hence the display parameter. The display parameter determined from the initialized score, when used to denote hyperlink prominence, may be set up to let the user know that little or no prominence data for the hyperlink is available.

The score calculation process may be executed on any available system, including the client system 112 and the prominence server 102, and it may be triggered each time any prominence data is updated on the prominence server. This would ensure that any score stored in the prominence database 104 corresponds with the other data associated with the hyperlink. It will be appreciated that how or when the scores are calculated or where the score-calculation process is performed is not limited by the sample implementations described herein. The display parameter determined according to a hyperlink's score may, in one embodiment, be an HTML or XML parameter that affects how a Web browser displays the hyperlink. In other embodiments, the display parameter may be a different form of variable interpreted by a program operating on the client system 112. The invention is not limited by the type of parameter used to denote hyperlink prominence.

The one or more scores (FIGS. 5, 720, 722, and 724) for a hyperlink may be calculated or determined in any of a variety of ways. In one embodiment, for example, a first score (FIG. 5, 720) is calculated by dividing the count of click-throughs for a hyperlink (FIG. 5, 714) by the count of page views (FIG. 5, 712) of the page on which the hyperlink is found. In this embodiment, the more often a user or group of users click on a hyperlink when a page containing the hyperlink is viewed (resulting in a higher ratio of click-throughs and page views), the more prominently the hyperlink is displayed to the user.

In some embodiments, the calculation for the score may incorporate feedback received from one or more users. For example, users can provide feedback about a hyperlink by indicating whether the target of the hyperlink was found to be useful. If the hyperlink target (e.g., linked Web page content) was valuable or helpful to the user, the user may cast a “YES” vote for the hyperlink (FIG. 5, 716), whereas if the target content was not valuable or helpful to the user, the user may cast a “NO” vote against the hyperlink (FIG. 5, 718). This feedback can be incorporated into the score, for example, by deriving a value from the feedback (such as calculating a weighted difference between the number of “YES” votes and the number of “NO” votes) and multiplying the ratio of the click-throughs to page views for the hyperlink by the derived value.

If the number of click-throughs in this example is represented by the variable “C,” the number of page views is represented by the variable “PV,” the “YES” votes are represented by the variable “Y,” the “NO” votes are represented by the variable “N,” and the weighting factor of the vote difference is “X,” a formula for this embodiment of the score calculation may be: [C+X(Y-N)]/PV. Other embodiments of the score calculation may incorporate user-provided feedback in other ways. The invention is not limited by the methods used to calculate the score or derive a value from the feedback. For example, if users provide feedback in the form of a percentage representing helpfulness of the linked content, and the percentages are aggregated and averaged across a group of users, a hyperlink found to have an average helpfulness percentage of 80% may appear twice as prominent as a hyperlink that was only found to have an average helpfulness of 40%. Other embodiments of the score calculation process may incorporate the count of page views and the count of click-throughs, or other information concerning user interaction with hyperlinks in a page, in other ways. Multiple scores may be calculated, and if desired, stored as shown in FIG. 5.

At block 220, updated prominence data is stored in the prominence database 104. This updated data may include updated scores as well as updates for other information concerning user interaction with hyperlinks in a page. In some instances, the updated prominence data may include new hyperlinks and new user information that may be due to a user visiting the page for the first time or due to hyperlinks having been recently added to the page. The method 200 terminates after the page and display parameters corresponding to hyperlinks on the page have been provided to the user at block 222.

After the page and display parameters are provided to the user in block 222, the method 300 of FIG. 3 begins operation. The method 300 begins at block 302, wherein the page is displayed to the user using the display parameters to denote the prominence of the displayed hyperlinks. As will be depicted and described hereafter, the prominence of a hyperlink may be denoted through the hyperlink's font, size, color (e.g., hue, saturation, intensity), brightness, progression or motion, or other parameter. Alternatively, symbols or numbers, such as the number of click-throughs or score associated with the hyperlink, may be shown to denote the hyperlink's prominence. Other characteristics can be used to denote prominence as well. The invention is not limited by the characteristic(s) used to denote prominence.

After the page is displayed to the user in block 302, the count of page views for the page may be incremented and stored in the prominence database 104, as indicated at block 303. In other embodiments, the count of page views may be incremented before the page is displayed to the user. Additionally, in other embodiments, page view count information may be stored on the client system 112 for some period of time before the count of page views is transmitted to the prominence server 102. If desired, one or more scores may be calculated and stored in the prominence database 104 after the count of page views is incremented.

In any event, the method 300 next determines at decision block 304 whether any hyperlinks on the page have been clicked. If no hyperlinks have been clicked, the method then checks at decision block 308 whether the page is still being displayed to the user. A page may cease being displayed if, for example in the case of displaying a Web page, the user navigates to a new Web page having a different network address (URL). In that circumstance, the prior Web page is no longer displayed and is replaced by the new Web page. In other circumstances, the user may close, terminate, or otherwise disable the application (e.g., Web browser) used to display the page.

If the page is no longer being displayed, the method terminates at block 316. Otherwise, if the page is still being displayed, the method loops back to decision block 304 and again checks to see if any hyperlinks on the page have been clicked. As long as no hyperlinks have been clicked and the page continues to be displayed, the method may continue to traverse the loop between decision blocks 304 and 308. The method 300 may determine that a hyperlink has been clicked, for example, when the prominence server 102 receives a request for prominence data for a page at a new network address (e.g., as described at block 202 in FIG. 2).

Returning to decision block 304, in the case where a hyperlink on the page has been clicked, the count of click-throughs for the associated hyperlink is incremented at block 306 and stored in the prominence database 104. In one embodiment, the incremented count may be held on the client system 112 for a period of time before it is sent to the prominence database 104. In other embodiments, the count of click-throughs is not sent by the client system 112, but instead the client system 112 sends information identifying the clicked hyperlink, along with an individual or group identification of the user that clicked the link, to the prominence server 102, and a process running on the prominence server 102 increments and stores the count of click-throughs in the prominence database 104.

After the count of click-throughs has been incremented at block 306, the method determines at decision block 310 whether feedback is being collected from the user. If feedback is not being collected, the method 300 terminates at block 316. In the exemplary embodiment shown, if feedback is being collected, the system provides a feedback interface to the user in block 312 and stores the collected feedback in block 314.

In one embodiment, the feedback interface may be implemented as a voting system. For example, the system may query the user to determine whether the user was helped by clicking the hyperlink. If the user was helped, the user may vote “YES” and the corresponding count of “YES” votes (FIG. 5, 716) in the prominence database 104 would be incremented. If the user did not find that clicking the hyperlink was helpful, the user may vote “NO” and the corresponding count of “NO” votes (FIG. 5, 718) in the prominence database 104 may be incremented. In some cases, a user may choose not to vote on the hyperlink. In that case, neither vote count may be incremented, or one of the vote counts may be incremented as a default. It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited by the type or form of feedback collected.

User feedback may be stored in the prominence database 104 immediately after it is submitted, or it may in other embodiments be held on the client system 112 for some period before being stored in the prominence database 104. Furthermore, as will be depicted and described hereafter, the prominence data, including the count of page views, the count of click-throughs, the “YES”-vote tally, the “NO”-vote tally, and the score may, in some embodiments, not only be associated with a hyperlink, but additionally associated with a user or a group of users.

Of course, implementations of the invention are not limited to the methods shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Other methods may include additional actions or eliminate some of the actions shown. For example, as noted above, embodiments of the invention that use the full network address of the page for storing prominence data instead of a portion thereof may eliminate the analysis performed in block 206. Additionally, as discussed above, block 204 may be skipped if the prominence database 104 is updated each time a new hyperlink is added to a page. Block 204 may also be skipped if prominence data for a hyperlink is only added to the database after the hyperlink has been clicked in decision block 304. In such an embodiment, hyperlinks not found in the database 104 at block 208 may be displayed with an “initial” display parameter in block 302. In other embodiments, a score associated with a hyperlink may be calculated each time prominence data associated with the hyperlink is updated. In that case, the score may be calculated at other points in the method 200 or method 300 than at block 218.

A feedback interface may automatically be available to a user and feedback automatically stored while the feedback is being received from the user. In such a case, blocks 312 and 314 may be combined into one block. In yet other embodiments, user feedback may be stored according to a predetermined schedule, such as every five seconds (for example), especially when new feedback is being entered, with perhaps a final automatic storage occurring when the feedback interface is no longer provided.

The actions shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 may also be performed in a different order than shown. For example, the address analysis in block 206 may occur before the page is retrieved in block 204. Additionally, determining the display parameter in block 218 may occur after updated prominence data is stored in block 220. Further, incrementing the count of page views as discussed in block 303 may occur before or after the page is displayed in block 302. The methods depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 provide just one example of an implementation of the invention.

Exemplary Computer Architectures

Turning now to FIGS. 4A-4C, exemplary computer architectures for the page server 116, client system 112, and prominence server 102 shown in FIG. 1 are described. Of course, those skilled in computers will appreciate that the client system 112, as well as the page server 116 and prominence server 102 described below, may include more or fewer components than those shown in FIGS. 4A-4C.

The client system 112 shown in FIG. 4A is connected to the network 106 (FIG. 1) using a network interface 422. The network interface 422 includes the necessary hardware and software to allow the client system 112 to communicate with other computing devices connected to the network 106 using one or more suitable communication protocols, such as TCP/IP.

The client system 112 further includes a processor 414, a memory 410, a video display adapter 412, a computer-readable medium drive 416 (e.g., disk drive), and an input/output interface 418, all communicatively connected together and to the network interface 422 by a communication bus 420. The memory 410 generally comprises RAM, ROM, and/or permanent memory. The memory 410 stores an operating system 404 for controlling the general operation of the client system 112. The operating system 404 may be a general-purpose operating system such as a Microsoft® operating system, UNIX®, or Linux® operating system.

The memory 410 additionally stores program code and data for providing a page-viewing application 406 that allows users to request and receive pages via the network interface 422. One possible embodiment of a page-viewing application 406 is a Web browser software package that, when executed by the processor 414, displays configurable markup documents, such as the sample Web pages shown in FIG. 6 through FIG. 8. The page-viewing application 406, however, is not limited to Web browsers, and may be any application that can access and display a page.

Also stored in the memory 410 is a feedback interface 408. The feedback interface 408 comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor 414, provide a tool for the user to input feedback. Examples of a feedback interface 408 in the form of a toolbar are depicted and described hereafter, though the feedback interface 408 is not limited to a toolbar implementation. The feedback interface 408 may be provided by a separate application executing on the client system 112, or it may be provided by a software process hosted by the prominence server 102 or other computing device, or some combination thereof. The feedback interface 408 in this example may communicate with the prominence server 102 (FIG. 4C) via the network interface 422.

The video display adapter 412 provides display signals to a local display permitting a user 108 to observe and interact with the client system 112. The input/output interface 418 likewise communicates with external devices not shown in FIG. 2, such as a mouse, keyboard, scanner, pen, or other input device that can be operated by the user 108.

FIG. 4B depicts an exemplary computer architecture for a page server, such as the page server 116 shown in FIG. 1. A page server 116 is not necessary to practice the invention, but may operate in connection with a client system 112 to deliver one or more requested pages to a user. There may be numerous page servers communicating with client systems via the network 106. The page server 116 may be operated by the same entity that operates the prominence server 102 (depicted in FIG. 4C) or may be operated by an unrelated third party. The functions of the page server 116 and the prominence server 102 may even be provided by the same computing system.

The page server 116 shown in FIG. 4B includes many components that may operate in a similar manner to those components of similar names described above in FIG. 4A. The page server 116 may include a processor 512 in communication with a memory 508, a display adapter 510, a computer-readable medium drive 520, an input/output interface 518, and a network interface 516, all communicatively connected by a bus 514. The memory 508, as shown, stores an operating system 506 that controls the general operation of the page server 116.

The memory 508 additionally stores program code and data for providing a page manager 504 that interacts with one or more pages 522. As depicted in FIG. 4B, the pages 522 may include such items as Web pages 524, documents 526, computer files 528, etc. In response to receiving a request for a page, the page manager 504 directs one or more of the pages 522 to be delivered to the user (e.g., via the network interface 516).

FIG. 4C depicts an exemplary computer architecture for a prominence server, such as the prominence server 102 shown in FIG. 1. As with the client system 112 and page server 116, the prominence server 102 has a network interface 622 that includes the necessary hardware and software to allow the prominence server 102 to communicate with other computing devices connected to the network 106. Furthermore, the prominence server 102 includes several components that may operate in a like manner as described above, including a processor 612, a memory 610, a display adapter 614, a computer-readable medium drive 616 and an input/output interface 620, all communicatively connected to each other and to the network interface 622 by a communication bus 618.

The memory 610 includes an operating system 604 that, when executed by the processor 612, controls the general operation of the prominence server 102. Further included in the memory 610 is program code that, when executed by the processor 612, provides a page address analyzer 606, a database manager 608, a score calculator 624, and a display parameter determiner 626.

When the network address of a page requested by a user is received by the prominence server 102, the page address analyzer 606 analyzes the network address to identify a portion of the address that serves to identify the page, as described earlier in block 206 of FIG. 2. The page address analyzer 606 communicates the uniquely-identifying portion of the address to the database manager 608, which uses the address to query the prominence database 104 and determine whether previously stored prominence data is available for the hyperlinks found on the page. The prominence database 104 may be physically housed within the prominence server 102 as shown in FIG. 4C, or may be located separate from the prominence server 102, as shown in FIG. 1. When separately located, the prominence database 104 may communicate with the prominence server 102 by a direct communication link as depicted in FIG. 1, or by network communication.

As will be depicted and described hereafter, the prominence database 104 may be comprised of a large capacity storage device that contains data structures adapted for storing prominence data in association with a user or group identity and hyperlinks contained on a page. The data structures in the prominence database 104 may be organized in any suitable fashion, including in the form of a table.

If the database manager 608 determines from the prominence database 104 that previously stored prominence data is available for the hyperlinks on the page, the database manager 608 retrieves the prominence data from the database 104 and communicates it to the display parameter determiner 626 that determines the display parameter(s) used to denote the prominence of the hyperlinks on the page when they are displayed. Alternatively, prominence data may be communicated directly to the client system 112, which determines the display parameter(s) and displays the hyperlinks at varying prominence to the user. It should be understood that a display parameter as that term is used herein can be any type of parameter that can affect the display of a hyperlink.

The score calculator 624 is comprised of program instructions that, when executed by the processor 612, perform the score calculations described above in regard to block 218 of FIG. 2. Alternatively, the score calculations may be performed at the client system 112.

Exemplary Data Structure

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary data structure that may be used to store prominence data in the prominence database 104. In this example, the data structure takes the form of a table that includes prominence data for the hyperlinks contained on the sample page located at the network address “http://www.xwebdomain.com.” In other embodiments, the data structure may take other forms, such as a linked list or an array of linked lists. Additionally, in other embodiments, the data structure may contain data for a page identified by an address that corresponds to an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a program command (e.g., for a drop-down list), FTP command, an address on a local computer (such as a drive identifier and file name), URI, URL, etc. The prominence database 104 may store many tables, with each table corresponding to a different page.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, the table comprises three rows 702, 704, and 706, each comprised of prominence data associated with a hyperlink 708 and a user or group identity (ID) 710. In some embodiments, the user/group ID column 710 may not be necessary, particularly when the prominence data associated with a hyperlink includes prominence data associated with all users having access to the page.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, prominence data associated with a hyperlink may be limited to a user or group of users. For example, the row comprising data for the “STORES” hyperlink 702 is limited to that data associated with the “PEORIA” user/group ID 710. Although not shown in FIG. 5, another row representing data associated with the “STORES” hyperlink may be inserted into the table with a different user or group ID, such as “PARIS” for example. The data contained in that row would be specific to the user or group “PARIS.” Additionally, the user/group ID column 710 may be used to group users according to their scope. For example, all users accessing the page through an intranetwork may be included in one group while all users accessing the page through an Internetwork may be included in another group.

The prominence database 104 may use the hyperlinks column 708 and user/group ID column 710 to identify and retrieve some or all of the prominence data stored in columns 712 through 724. In other embodiments, additional or different columns of identifying information may be used by the prominence database 104 to store the prominence data. It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited by the number of rows or columns or other formatting of the table illustrated in FIG. 5.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, columns 712-724 include prominence data representing a count of page views 712, a count of click-throughs 714, a count of “YES” votes 716, a count of “NO” votes 718, a first score “SCORE1” 720, a second score “SCORE2” 722, and a third score “SCORE3” 724. In other embodiments, prominence data may be represented by more or fewer data columns.

The count of page views column 712 may be used in one embodiment to store the total number of times the page has been viewed. In other embodiments, the count of page views column 712 may store the number of times the page has been viewed while each respective hyperlink has been included on the page. Additional embodiments may have the count of page views column 712 store the number of times the page has been viewed since each respective hyperlink was first clicked. In yet other embodiments, the count of page views column 712 may store the number of page views that occurred after the respective hyperlink was added to the page minus a predetermined number, such as ten for example. It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited by how page views are counted and stored.

The count of click-throughs column 714 may be used to store the number of times each respective hyperlink has been clicked through when the page has been viewed. The count may start when the hyperlink is first clicked through or may start after a certain number of clicks. In some embodiments, the user may be viewing pages and clicking hyperlinks in the context of a user session. In that case, page views or click-throughs that occur more than once in the same user session may not be counted more than once. A user session may expire or otherwise terminate after a set amount of time, when the program used to view the page is terminated, when the user leaves the domain of the Web site, etc. It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited by how click-throughs are counted.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5, feedback regarding a hyperlink is received from users in the form of “YES” votes and “NO” votes. The count of these votes is stored in columns 716 and 718. In other embodiments, feedback may be provided in other formats. For example, users may rate the hyperlinks, using a number from 1 to 10, or they may provide a percentage value that indicates how useful the hyperlink was to them. As will be depicted and described herein, feedback may be collected from a user through a feedback interface.

In FIG. 5, scores for each hyperlink are calculated and stored in column 720, column 722, and column 724. The scores associated with a hyperlink may be calculated in many ways, examples of which are described in detail above in reference to block 218 of FIG. 2.

The table 700 contains prominence data for hyperlinks found in a page identified by the address “http://www.xwebdomain.com.” Row 702 of table 700 stores data for the STORES hyperlink and the user/group identity PEORIA. For purposes of this example, PEORIA will be assumed to be a group ID, but in other embodiments, PEORIA may represent a single user. Associated with the STORES hyperlink and the PEORIA group is a count of page views of the page “http://www.xwebdomain.com.” stored in column 712 which in this example is 6. Similarly, the count of page views in row 704 associated with the ELECTRONICS hyperlink and the PEORIA group is 15. The count of page views in row 706 associated with the BOOKS hyperlink and the PEORIA group is 3.

In some embodiments, each count of page views in a table may be equal. This may occur, for example, if the count of page views for each hyperlink began at the same time, e.g., when the page was first created, and no new links have been added to the page. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, each count of page views is different, which may occur, for example, if the hyperlinks were added to the page at different times and the count of page views began when each respective link was added to the page. Although the exemplary embodiment depicts PEORIA as the user/group ID for all the rows in the table, any user/group ID may be stored in the table and each hyperlink on the page may be associated with more than one user/group ID. For example, the STORES hyperlink may be stored in another row in association with a different user/group ID.

As previously noted, the count of click-throughs for each hyperlink on a page is stored in column 714. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the STORES hyperlink was clicked on 2 times by members of the PEORIA group, the ELECTRONICS hyperlink was clicked on 5 times by members of the PEORIA group, and the BOOKS hyperlink was clicked on 1 time by members of the PEORIA group. If desired, page views or click-throughs that occur more than once in the same user session may be counted only once.

Once a hyperlink has been clicked through, users may leave feedback regarding the hyperlink they clicked through. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, this feedback comes in the form of YES and NO votes, with the count of these votes being stored in columns 716 and 718. As depicted in FIG. 5, the STORES hyperlink received one YES vote and one NO vote by members of the PEORIA group, the ELECTRONICS hyperlink received 2 YES votes and 3 NO votes by members of the PEORIA group, and the BOOKS hyperlink received 1 YES vote and 0 NO votes by members of the PEORIA group.

As noted previously, one or more scores may be calculated for each hyperlink stored in the prominence database 104. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the first score 720 was calculated using the formula C/PV, where the variable “C” represents the number of click-throughs 714 and the variable “PV” represents the number of page views 712. Using this formula results in scores of 0.5 for the STORES hyperlink, 0.333 for the ELECTRONICS hyperlink, and 0.667 for the BOOKS hyperlink. The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5 also depicts a second score 722, which was calculated using the formula [C+X(Y−N)]/PV, described earlier, in which X is set to 3. Using this formula, the STORES hyperlink scored 0.5, the ELECTRONICS hyperlink scored 0.133, and the BOOKS hyperlink scored 1.667. The third score 724 depicted in FIG. 5 was calculated using the formula [C+X(Y−N)]/PV, wherein X is 0.5. By using a value of X equal to 0.5, as opposed to the value of 3 when calculating the second score 722, a lesser weighting may be given to the user-provided feedback 716 and 718. As depicted in FIG. 5, the resultant scores 724 are 0.5 for the STORES hyperlink, 0.3 for the ELECTRONICS hyperlink, and 0.833 for the BOOKS hyperlink. These scores may be used to determine the prominence of the respective hyperlinks when the page with the hyperlinks is displayed.

Calculation and storage of multiple scores may allow for different scores to be used in different situations. For example, the second score 722, which was calculated using a higher value of X, may be used when user feedback is desired to play a larger role in how prominently the hyperlinks are displayed. If user feedback is less important, the third score 724, which was calculated using a smaller value of X than the second score 722, may be used to set the display parameters for the hyperlinks on the page. Calculating and storing multiple scores may also allow for users to choose which score they would like to use to set display parameters for hyperlinks on the pages they view.

Although the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5 depicts a table for all hyperlinks on the page “http://www.xwebdomain.com,” other data structures may be constructed to store data for individual hyperlinks, regardless of the page the hyperlink was on when it was clicked. For example, the STORES hyperlink in row 702 may be on a page having the address “http://www.xwebdomain.com” and on a page having the address “http://www.xwebdomain.com/information.” In this particular embodiment, the two STORES hyperlinks can be considered to be the same for purposes of storing and retrieving prominence data. This may be accomplished by analyzing the underlying target computer addresses to which the two hyperlinks point. In this manner, if a hyperlink appears as a graphic on http://www.xwebdomain.com and as text on http://www.xwebdomain.com/info, but the underlying target address is the same, the user activity reported in columns 712, 714, 716, 718 may be aggregated for use of the two hyperlinks across both pages. Embodiments of the invention may also be implemented to take into account information such as traffic (e.g., number of hits) that a Web page receives or has received, either from a particular user, a group of users, or from users in general. This information can help set a basis for determining the level of prominence of links to that page when such links are displayed on referring pages. Similarly, the significance of a page as measured or otherwise determined by an entity or operation, such as a search service, Web crawler service or other service, may be used to affect the prominence of display of links to that page. In yet other embodiments, instead of being associated with a page, a data structure in the prominence database 104 may be associated with the entire Internet, an intranetwork, a user's local computer, or some other scope.

In embodiments of the invention where the user is a member of a group, the count of click-throughs may encompass all click-throughs affected by every member of the group. In another embodiment where the user desires to be individually tracked, the count of click-throughs encompasses only those click-throughs performed by the individual user. Further embodiments may increment the count of click-throughs each time any user clicks on the associated hyperlink. A similar handling of counting page views may be used.

Exemplary Applications Using Web-Based Systems

Described next in connection with FIGS. 6-8 is a specific example of a page-viewing application 406 (FIG. 4A) in the form of a Web browser 800. In FIG. 6, the Web browser 800 includes a display area 812 for displaying a page, such as a Web page, a document, a file, etc., that includes various hyperlinks.

In this example, the Web page in the display area 812 is identified by a network address in the form of a URL as shown in the address block 810. When a user enters the URL into the address block 810, the Web browser requests the particular page (here, a page with hyperlinks to various shopping sites) from a server (here, one or more page servers identified by “www.xwebdomain.com”).

The Web page 812 includes the title “CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW FOR GREAT SHOPPING” 802 and three hyperlinks 804, 806, and 808. The hyperlinks 804, 806, 808 correspond to the hyperlinks stored in the exemplary data structure of FIG. 5. In this embodiment, the display parameters were set using the first score 720. As can be seen in FIG. 5, the ELECTRONICS hyperlink has a first score of 0.333, which is the lowest of the three hyperlink scores in column 720. The STORES hyperlink has a first score of 0.5, which is the second-highest of the hyperlink scores in column 720. The BOOKS hyperlink has a first score of 0.667, which is the highest of the three hyperlink scores in column 720.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6, hyperlink prominence is denoted by font size. The BOOKS hyperlink 806 has the highest score, which maps to a display parameter representing a large font size. The STORES hyperlink 804 has the second-highest score, which maps to a display parameter representing a medium font size. The ELECTRONICS hyperlink 808 has the lowest score, which maps to a display parameter representing a small font size. Different scores may be mapped to different levels of font size for display of the hyperlinks.

Although font size is used in FIG. 6 to denote hyperlink prominence, other characteristics may be used to denote prominence. For example, hyperlink prominence may be denoted through the use of different colors. In another embodiment, the hue or intensity of the displayed hyperlinks may be provided to denote different levels of prominence of the hyperlinks on a page. Alternatively, or in addition, symbols, including numbers (such as the score of the hyperlink or the number of click-throughs), may be displayed near the hyperlink to denote the relative prominence of the hyperlinks on the page. In yet other embodiments, prominence may be denoted by using various levels of brightness. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention is not limited by the display characteristics used to denote hyperlink prominence.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6, each hyperlink is displayed at a different level of prominence. However, hyperlinks may be displayed at similar levels of prominence depending on their prominence data. For example, the levels of prominence of hyperlinks displayed on a page may be defined by some number of levels, e.g., ten levels. In such an example, hyperlinks may be grouped so that those with scores from 0.0 to 0.1 are correlated in one group having a display parameter for one level of prominence, those with scores from 0.1 to 0.2 are correlated in another group having another display parameter for another level of prominence; those with scores from 0.2 to 0.3 are correlated in yet another group having a display parameter for another level of prominence, and so on (assuming a scoring calculation that has a range of 0.0-1.0). In other embodiments, instead of using a linear grouping, the grouping of hyperlinks may be such that the scores of the hyperlinks fit a curve distribution. For example, there may be four groups dividing the scores from 0.0 to 0.3 and four groups dividing the scores from 0.7 to 1, while there are only two groups dividing the scores from 0.3 to 0.7. In other embodiments, an exponential distribution may be used to group hyperlinks of various prominence levels.

While one of the foregoing examples suggests ten levels of prominence, it should be well understood and appreciated that other exemplary embodiments may involve any number of levels of prominence. In some circumstances, two, three, or more levels of prominence are appropriate. In other circumstances, at least four levels of prominence, and sometimes more, are advantageous. Moreover, the prominence at which a hyperlink is displayed may be increased or decreased to a different level of prominence depending on the prominence data considered.

In some embodiments, different levels of prominence may be denoted using different temporal display characteristics for the hyperlink. A hyperlink may be displayed, for example, using a progression of images, words, letters, symbols, colors, or other elements that may be shown in a sequence. Such progressive display may, in some circumstances, impart a motion characteristic to the display of the hyperlink. In accordance with principles of the invention, features such as speed, frequency, and/or order of the progression may be adjusted to reflect different levels of prominence for the hyperlink. The images, words, letters, symbols, colors, or other elements in the progressive display may also be modified to reflect different levels of prominence.

It should further be noted that a hyperlink may be displayed at different levels of prominence without altering or modifying a position on the page at which the hyperlink appears. A hyperlink may have a position on a page at which it appears, e.g., a position relative to a border of the page or relative to other links on the page. In accordance with principles of the invention, the prominence of display of the hyperlink may be affected while the position of the hyperlink on the page remains the same.

Although the example shown in FIG. 6 only includes hyperlinks in text form, persons skilled in the art will appreciate that hyperlinks may be associated with images, tabs, buttons, and other objects or controls on a page. The present invention may also be used to denote prominence for links in these other forms. For example, the text written on a button may be displayed in different fonts to denote different levels of prominence. Images or text that represent hyperlinks may be displayed at various levels of brightness or may contain other indicia that denote prominence. Tabs may be displayed at different sizes to signify prominence. The invention is not limited by the form in which a hyperlink is displayed or presented.

Although not depicted in FIG. 6, if the current user has not previously viewed the hyperlink, first viewed the hyperlink recently, or has only viewed the hyperlink a few times, the hyperlink may be displayed in a manner such that the user will see that the hyperlink is relatively new to the user. In one exemplary embodiment, the word “NEW” or a symbol may be displayed next to the hyperlink. Similarly, hyperlinks that are relatively new to a group of users may be marked as such when displayed to a user in the group.

FIG. 7 depicts an embodiment in which a page that includes a reference list of hyperlinks is displayed in the form of a drop-down list 900 to which the user can add and delete hyperlinks. In this particular embodiment, the drop-down list 900 represents a “favorites” list. Similarly, the drop-down list may be a “history” list that tracks the pages a user has visited. The methods of signifying prominence discussed above (e.g., using different size fonts as shown in FIG. 7) may be applied when displaying the drop-down list 900 to denote the prominence of the various hyperlinks based on user interaction with the hyperlinks. Typically, a “favorites” list or “history” list is intended only for local use by an individual user and thus is stored on the user's local computer for editing and use in association with an application, for example, a Web browser. In alternative embodiments, the reference list may be stored on a remote computer, such as the page server 116 depicted in FIG. 1. The hyperlinks in the reference drop-down list 900 may be used to define the rows of a data structure as shown in FIG. 5 where prominence data for each of the hyperlinks are stored.

In addition to using feedback, click-through, and page view data to calculate a prominence score, data on recency of click-throughs may also be incorporated into the score calculation. The count of click-throughs may be set to “decay” over time. In one embodiment, for example, a date may be associated with each click-through, such that once a certain amount of time passes after the click-through occurred, the click-through “expires” and the count of click-throughs 714 (FIG. 5) in the prominence database is decreased by one. For example, if a hyperlink was clicked through on Sep. 15, 2004, and click-throughs expire after six months, then on Mar. 15, 2005, one click-through associated with the hyperlink will expire, thus decreasing the associated count of click-throughs for the hyperlink by one. The count of click-throughs may be set to decrease according to any type of formula, equation, algorithm, or criterion.

In another embodiment, the count of page views and/or the count of click-throughs may be set to zero (or some lower value or values) after a number of page views occurs without any click-throughs of hyperlinks on the page. Accordingly, hyperlinks that may have been displayed at higher levels of prominence based on user interaction long ago but no longer used are reset to a lower value, such as zero.

In yet another embodiment, the prominence level for a hyperlink may be decreased level by level if a certain period of time passes without the hyperlink being clicked. For example, the prominence level of a hyperlink may decrease by one level for every month that passes without the hyperlink being clicked. In still other embodiments, the score associated with a hyperlink may decay over time. This decay may occur in a linear, logarithmic, exponential, or other fashion. For example, the score may decrease by 0.1 if the associated hyperlink is not clicked for one month, 0.2 if the associated hyperlink is not clicked through for two months, 0.4 if the associated hyperlink is not clicked through for three months, and so on until the score is zero.

Additionally, in other embodiments, the score associated with a hyperlink may be calculated based on user activity that occurred within a recent period of time. For example, in one embodiment, all click-throughs and page views may expire after three months, such that the score associated with a hyperlink only reflects user activity that occurred within the past quarter. Factoring in recency of click-throughs may be particularly helpful in the context of displaying a page with an individual user's “favorites” list, because a hyperlink in the favorites list may be clicked through quite often for a period of time, and then rarely clicked through or never clicked through after the hyperlink has outgrown its usefulness.

FIG. 8 illustrates a Web browser 1000 that includes several aspects similar to the Web browser 800 described above. The Web browser 1000 includes a display area 1018 that, in this example, displays a Web page 1012. The Web page 1012 is identified in the network by the URL in the address field 1002. The Web browser 1000 further includes a control 1004 that a user may operate to reveal a feedback interface 1006 having voting buttons 1014 and 1016. A user may click on the voting buttons 1014 and 1016 to provide feedback on the helpfulness of the recently clicked hyperlink. In alternative embodiments, the feedback interface 1006 may appear automatically after a user clicks on a hyperlink. The control 1004 may be a button labeled “FEEDBACK” as shown, or any other form of control, such as a hypertext link, check box, etc.

When the user actuates the control 1004, the feedback interface 1006 is revealed to the user. In one suitable embodiment, the feedback interface 1006 is a toolbar that is incorporated into a Web browser such as an Internet Explorer® browser from Microsoft Corporation. A suitable toolbar may be based, for example, on a “COM” component implementing the interfaces IobjectWithSiteImpl, InputObject, and IdeskBand, and registering the component with the operating system, as described in greater detail by a document entitled “Programming and Reusing the Browser,” available from Microsoft Corporation. See also “Reusing Internet Explorer and the WebBrowser Control: An Array of Options,” available from Microsoft Corporation.

In some embodiments, controls may be displayed within the context of the Web page that is currently displayed in the browser. In other embodiments, controls may be displayed outside the browser window, such as in a separate window, on the desktop, or in the desktop taskbar. In yet other embodiments, visible controls are not displayed, but the user is permitted to use other forms of computer input, such as typing a key or a key combination, or by speaking a voice command, to activate the control.

The feedback interface 1006 includes an instruction field 1008 that instructs the user providing feedback. Feedback entered into the feedback interface 1006 (e.g., using the voting buttons 1014, 1016 in this example) may be stored in the prominence database 104 in association with the network address 810 of the page from which the user clicked through, the hyperlink 804 the user clicked to arrive at the Web page 1012, and the user or user's group, as previously described.

The display size of the feedback interface 1006 may be fixed at a predetermined size with an instruction field 1008 having a defined number of lines. Alternatively, the display size of the feedback interface 1006 may be dynamic such that the size is adjusted according to the size of instructions in the instruction field 1008. For example, if the instructions fit on one line, the display size of the feedback interface 1006 may be adjusted to show only one line in the instruction field 1008. If the instructions occupy two or three lines, the display size of the feedback interface 1006 may be adjusted accordingly to display two or three lines in the instruction field 1008. A maximum display size of the feedback interface 1006 (e.g., three lines, in this example), may be defined if desired. If the size of the instructions in the instruction field 1008 exceeds the display size of the feedback interface 1006, a scroll bar control 1010 is provided to allow the user to scroll through the instructions.

FIG. 9 illustrates yet another embodiment in which a Web browser 1000 has a display area 1018 showing a Web page 1012. The network address of the Web page is shown in the address field 1002. The Web browser 1000 includes a control 1004 that, when actuated by the user, opens a feedback interface in the form of a separate window 1108 displayed over the top of the Web page 1012. The feedback interface window 1108 depicted in FIG. 9 includes a rating scale 1114 for providing feedback. In this particular illustration, the rating scale is a slideable bar that the user can move to indicate an answer to the query “Did you find this Web page to be helpful?.” The slideable bar can be configured to move at discrete steps or slide continuously on a scale ranging from “YES” to “SOMEWHAT” to “NO.”

The feedback interface window 1108 also includes controls 1110 and 1112 in the form of hypertext links labeled “Save/Close” and “Cancel,” respectively. Actuation of the control 1110 causes the Web browser 1000 to transmit a command to the prominence server 102 to store in the prominence database 104 the feedback data entered by the user in the feedback interface window 1108. As earlier described, the prominence data may be stored in association with the user, the clicked hyperlink, and the network address of the page on which the clicked hyperlink was found. The control 1110 further closes the feedback interface window 1108, thus enabling the user to continue viewing the Web page 1012. The control 1112, when actuated by the user, causes the feedback interface window 1108 to close without having the feedback data entered by the user stored by the prominence server 102.

As will be appreciated from the foregoing, in some embodiments a feedback interface may be integrated into or otherwise communicate with the user's page-viewing application (e.g., Web browser) to automatically detect when the user is requesting a page with a network address. For example, where a feedback interface is provided in the form of a toolbar or feedback interface to the Internet Explorer® browser from Microsoft Corporation, the browser extension can be configured to recognize when a network address is entered into the browser for purposes of navigating to a page. Such functionality in a browser extension is further described in a document entitled “Web Accessories,” available from Microsoft Corporation.

Embodiments of the invention may also be provided in the form of tangible computer-accessible media whose contents direct a computing system to undertake actions as described above. For example, a computer-accessible medium may be inserted into the computer-readable medium drive 616 as shown in FIG. 4C to cause the prominence server 102 to receive a network address for a page on a computer network, receive prominence data in association with clicked hyperlinks, and store the prominence data in association with the network address of the page that includes the clicked hyperlink, without requiring a separate action from the user to store the prominence data. The computer-accessible medium may be further configured with contents directing computing systems to perform other actions described above, such as retrieving prominence data from the prominence database 104.

Other Variations and Embodiments

Several embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described above. It will be appreciated that various changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the process of calculating scores based on user interaction with hyperlinks, and using the scores to determine display parameters, may be eliminated. Instead, a display parameter for a hyperlink may be determined more directly by correlating the user interaction information to the display parameter for the hyperlink without the intermediate step of calculating a score.

In another exemplary variation, the present invention provides a method for affecting the prominence of display of a hyperlink that involves receiving information concerning user interaction with a first hyperlink, and then determining a display parameter for a second hyperlink based on the information concerning user interaction with the first hyperlink. The display parameter may affect the display of the second hyperlink at any of three or more levels of prominence. In one aspect, the user interaction information may include a count of page views of a page on which the first hyperlink appears and a count of click-throughs of the first hyperlink. In another aspect, the user interaction information may also include feedback provided by the user with regard to the first hyperlink. In circumstances where the first hyperlink is included in multiple pages, the information concerning user interaction may include an aggregated count of page views of the pages on which the first hyperlink appears. Scoring can be used where desired. The method may further comprise calculating a score based on the user interaction information, and using the score to determine the display parameter for the second hyperlink. In yet another aspect, user interaction with the first hyperlink may result in a decrease of prominence of display of the second hyperlink in accordance with the determined display parameter.

Using the foregoing description, persons skilled in the art are able to implement the invention in various environments. In one exemplary environment, a user's client computer obtains the necessary data and provides a display of hyperlinks based on information concerning prior user interaction with the hyperlinks. One example implementation is a client computer configured to request a page from a page server and also request data, such as prominence data, from a prominence server. Using the prominence data, the client computer determines display parameters for hyperlinks in the requested page and displays the page with the hyperlinks in accordance with the display parameters. In some circumstances, e.g., where the client computer possesses a cache of previously retrieved pages, the client computer may only request prominence data from the prominence server, without issuing a page request to a page server.

In another exemplary environment, a prominence server acts as an intermediary between a user's client computer and a page server that has a page desired by the user. The prominence server receiving the page request from the client computer obtains the desired page from the page server. Prior to delivering the page to the user, the prominence server determines display parameters for hyperlinks in the requested page, modifies the page according to the display parameters, and then delivers the page to the client computer, which displays the page to the user.

In yet another exemplary environment, a user's client computer may not directly communicate with a prominence server. A page server may be configured to receive a request for a page from a user's client computer, and before delivering the requested page, the page server obtains prominence data (which may include one or more display parameters) from the prominence server, modifies or prepares the page so that hyperlinks will be displayed in accordance with the display parameters, and delivers the page to the client computer. The client computer then displays the page to the user. If the page server is dynamically generating a requested page, the page server may issue multiple calls to the prominence server to obtain prominence data as needed, before and/or during the process of generating the page. Alternatively, a page server may obtain prominence data for the display of hyperlinks and modify the page on which they appear after the page has been generated by the page server. The prominence data provided by the prominence server in response to a request from the page server reflects prior user interaction with the hyperlinks. Accordingly, the prominence server may act as a provider of a Web service to page servers to allow them to provide a display of hyperlinks in accordance with user interaction data and algorithms stored by the prominence server. The prominence server may provide a standard interface that any page server can use to obtain prominence data.

The “display” of a hyperlink may also encompass any form of presentation of the hyperlink to a user. This includes forms of visual presentation as well as aural, haptic, or other presentation. For example, in regard to aural presentation, display parameters including (but not limited to) speed, voice, pitch, and/or volume may be used. Further, any kind of wired or wireless device capable of presenting information, including but not limited to devices such as computers, personal digital assistants, mobile telephones, Internet-enabled automobiles, electronic Braille readers, digital media players, and many more, may be used to present the hyperlink to a user.

Moreover, hyperlinks are in no way limited to the World Wide Web. A “hyperlink” may encompass any kind of hypertext link in any hypertext system or method. It may further encompass other kinds of computerized, digital, or electronic links having presentations in any form and in any medium, representing unidirectional, bidirectional, or multi-way association pathways between or among items such as, but not limited to, software programs, software objects, data structures, databases, digital content (text, audio, video, electronic games, virtual reality, etc.), stores of information, Web services, and so forth; and these association pathways may be mediated by any software and hardware in any combination known or hereafter developed, including but not limited to any kind of computer system or computer network.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may include further exemplary methods that may be used to facilitate a presentation of a link. As one example, a method may be implemented that includes first obtaining a value based on information concerning a prior interaction with a link, and then using the value to determine a parameter affecting a presentation of the link at one of three or more levels of prominence. A link may assume a variety of different forms. In a broad aspect, a link may be a computerized, electronic, or digital link between a first item and a second item. In such cases, the link may point from the first item to the second item, for example, or it may point from the second item to the first item. In some cases, the first item may be associated with a first node in a computer network and the second item may be associated with a second node in the computer network. Persons having ordinary skill in the art of computer networking will recognize there exists a myriad of computer network configurations in which systems, devices, apparatus, processes, interfaces, services, etc., can be made accessible as nodes in the computer network. The link may also be configured to represent an association among at least three distinct items.

Many of the exemplary embodiments discussed herein refer to implementations that provide information retrieval and display via the World Wide Web. A link, as contemplated in these embodiments, may thus be a hyperlink in a hypertext system, wherein the hypertext system comprises the World Wide Web. In some circumstances, the link may represent an association between at least two digital documents. In yet other circumstances, the link may represent an association between at least two Web services.

As previously noted, an exemplary method may include obtaining a value based on information concerning a prior interaction with a link, and then using the value to determine a parameter affecting a presentation of the link. In that regard, for one example, the prior interaction may be a prior interaction between a user and the link. Where desired, the presentation may be made perceivable by a user which, as noted above, may include visual, aural, haptic or other perception by a user.

The prior interaction may comprise a prior selection of the link by the user, though that is not necessarily the case. For example, the link may be a link in a hypertext system and the prior interaction may comprise a click-through of the link by the user. Alternatively, the interaction may comprise a prior indication, without selection, of the link by the user. One form of indication may be a time or proximity at which a user places a movable pointer relative to a link in a display. For example, a user operating a mouse or the like may place a pointer such that it “hovers” over a link. Such hovering may result in an indication of the link by the user.

In another aspect, a link may be presented in a page that includes the link and one or more other elements. Other elements, in the context of a Web implementation, may include things like text, graphics, buttons, forms, checkboxes, media playback, speech and sound effects, etc. In such a case, information concerning prior interaction that is used when determining a parameter affecting a presentation of a link may include interaction with an element of the page other than a link. A page may also be presented that includes the link and one or more other links. In such a case, the prior interaction information may include interaction with one of the other links in the page. In yet other circumstances, where a page is presented including the link, the prior interaction information may include perception by a user of a prior presentation of the page.

In addition to obtaining a value based on prior interaction with a link and determining a parameter affecting a presentation of the link, an embodiment may further comprise facilitating a presentation of the link in which the link is presented at one of the three or more levels of prominence in accordance with the determined parameter. Typically, though not required, the presentation of the link is made perceivable by a human being.

Yet additional embodiments of the invention may include further exemplary systems that facilitate a presentation of a link. As one example, a system may be implemented that includes a first element configured to provide a presentation parameter based on prominence data associated with a link, and a second element in communication with the first element, which is configured to receive the presentation parameter from the first element and to facilitate a presentation of the link at any of three or more levels of prominence in accordance with the presentation parameter. The link may typically be a hyperlink in a hypertext page. The second element of the system may be configured to modify the presentation of the link in a page in accordance with the parameter such that the presentation occurs at one of three or more levels of prominence. In one exemplary embodiment, the first element of the system comprises a server computer. In the same or a different embodiment, the second element may comprise a device having a display.

The aforementioned system may further comprise a third element in communication with the first element, in which the third element is configured to provide prominence data to the first element. An example of a third element in this regard may be a database of prominence data.

A system may further comprise a fourth element in communication with the third element as described above. The fourth element in this regard may be configured to compute the prominence data and to provide the computed prominence data to the third element.

Links may also be organized into a hierarchy, such as a family or tree, in which relationships are used to define the connections between nodes in the hierarchy. For example, a resource that is the target of a link may be a detail page for a book by a certain author. This link may belong to a family of links that all have target resources pertaining to the same author. Moreover, this family of links may belong to a larger family of links that target detail pages for a larger collection of books. Embodiments of the invention may be constructed in which user interaction with a resource, such as a detail page for a book in this example, may affect the prominence of display of other hyperlinks having a relationship with the link and the user-interacted resource that it targets. Prominence data for one link in the hierarchy may affect the prominence of display of other associated links in the hierarchy. In this manner, for example, the popularity of a link or a resource that the link targets may be observed more broadly in the prominence of display compared to other associated links in the hierarchy.

User Interaction and Path Reinforcing Activity

In another aspect, embodiments of the invention may be contemplated in view of natural processes that have been observed to reveal emergent properties in links and trails. A colony of ants, for example, is able to find the shortest among alternative pathways from its nest to a food source. Each ant as it progresses on its way deposits a trail of pheromones to which other ants in the colony are attracted. An ant's deposited pheromone trail decays over time, in a manner that may be modeled as an exponential decay. If it is supposed that a given number (N) of ants is uniformly distributed and traveling at a given rate along a path of length L1, and that an equal number of ants is uniformly distributed and traveling at the same rate along an alternative path of length L2, where L1 is greater than L2, then the concentration of pheromone present on the longer path (L1) will tend to be less than the concentration present on the shorter path (L2). The result is that the shorter pathways become more heavily saturated with pheromones, which in turn tend to attract more ants to those pathways and away from the alternatives, in a positive feedback loop. In the end, the vast majority of ants end up following the shortest pathway. This entomological phenomenon, first noted by the eminent scientist E.O. Wilson in the 1960s, has been widely discussed in the scientific literature.

The ant trail phenomenon may be applied by way of analogy or metaphor in the context of embodiments of the present invention. For example, a link may be displayed with greater or lesser prominence corresponding to the frequency of its popularity as indicated by the propensity of users to interact with the link, e.g., to hover over, follow, or “click-through” the link. Generally speaking, the more often users interact with a link, the more prominent the link becomes, typically up to a predetermined maximum prominence. Conversely, the less often users interact with a link, the less prominent the link becomes, typically down to a predetermined minimum prominence. In other words, user choices to interact with particular links tend to reinforce each other through mutual feedback, and likewise for user choices not to interact with particular links.

So, as an emergent property of specific embodiments of the invention in which user click-through of links (or other link interaction) is tracked, the most prominent links on a given Web page at a given moment may tend to be those links that the most users have clicked through recently. A user who has never before visited a particular Web page, or who has not visited the page recently, may thus readily ascertain which link or links on that page are currently most popular (and, presumably, most valuable), and may readily follow such links from one page to another. In this way, the links that emerge as prominent form “paths” that users can readily follow through the Web. Such link paths passively appear and disappear through continuing interaction of users with the respective Web pages and links according to the invention, without requiring centralized planning, prediction, or affirmative instruction from a user to indicate a desirable path. Moreover, different kinds of link prominences, such as color, font size, motion, etc., may be used simultaneously or separately so that multiple link paths can co-exist.

In one aspect, a path may be represented by a set of links ordered in a sequence that, if traversed by a user, will lead the user to a resource, such as a page in a hypertext system. A resource in one example may be any page in the system available to the user. For any destination, there may be multiple link paths via one or more intermediate pages that lead a user to the destination. Through the activities of multiple users interacting or otherwise traversing the link paths, it is expected that the shortest or more popular link paths to a destination will emerge as more prominent. Even if a user employing a search engine locates a page close to the user's desired destination, emergent paths appearing more prominent to the user may reliably lead the user to the desired destination.

The aforementioned increased or decreased prominence of links may be achieved in various ways in specific embodiments of the invention, for example, by associating a score, counter, or other value with the link and adding to that value each time the link is followed, while at the same time decaying the current value. For example, in one embodiment a prominence value associated with a link may decay exponentially, either with successive user visits to the Web page on which the link appears or with the passage of time. In other embodiments, the prominence value of a link may decay logarithmically or linearly, or according to some other function.

More particularly, considering an example based on a decay per visit methodology, if V_(n) ^(i) is the prominence value of link i at visit n to the Web page, then on a subsequent user visit n+1 to the same Web page, we have

$\begin{matrix} {V_{n + 1}^{i} = \left\{ \begin{matrix} {{\min\left( {{{\rho\; V_{n}^{i}} + K},V_{\max}} \right)},{{if}\mspace{14mu}{there}\mspace{14mu}{is}\mspace{14mu} a\mspace{14mu}\text{click-through}}} \\ {{\max\left( {{\rho\; V_{n}^{i}},V_{\min}} \right)},\mspace{14mu}{otherwise}} \end{matrix} \right.} & \left( {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right) \end{matrix}$ where p is a decay parameter greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1, K is an amount of increment, and V^(max) is the maximum permissible prominence value. Further, in another example based on a decay per unit time methodology, if V_(r) ^(i) is the prominence value of link i at time t, and if at time t=0 we have V₀ ^(i)=0, then on a subsequent user visit to the same Web page at time t+Δt, we have

$\begin{matrix} {V_{t + {\Delta\; t}}^{i} = \left\{ \begin{matrix} {{\min\left( \;{{{V_{t}^{i}{\mathbb{e}}^{{- {\gamma\Delta}}\; t}} + K},V_{\max}} \right)},{{if}\mspace{14mu}{there}\mspace{14mu}{is}\mspace{14mu} a\mspace{14mu}\text{click-through}}} \\ {{\max\left( {{V_{t}^{i}{\mathbb{e}}^{{- {\gamma\Delta}}\; t}},V_{\min}} \right)},\mspace{14mu}{otherwise}} \end{matrix} \right.} & \left( {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2} \right) \end{matrix}$

where γ is a decay rate parameter greater than 0.

The flowchart 1200 shown in FIG. 10 illustrates how prominence values may be increased or decreased in one exemplary embodiment. Initially, when a user accesses a Web page 1202, current prominence values for links on the Web page are retrieved 1204, e.g., from a prominence database 104. The Web page is then displayed 1206 on which one or more links are presented in accordance with the current prominence values.

When the user clicks on a link 1208, the user is taken, for example, to another Web page. Responsive to the user click, the prominence value for the link on which the user clicked is retrieved 1210, and its associated tracking information (e.g., the time or visit number of the last page visit and click-through, the ID of the user who made that last visit and click-through, etc.) is also retrieved. The prominence value is increased 1212, for example according to the formula of Equation 1 or Equation 2 above, and the associated tracking information is updated. The resulting prominence value and updated tracking information is stored, e.g., in the prominence database 104 as illustrated.

Also responsively to the user click, the prominence values for other links in the page (that is, the links on which the user did not click) may be retrieved 1214, together with their respective associated tracking information. The prominence values of these links may be decreased 1216, for example according to the formula of Equation 1 or Equation 2, whichever was used for the value increase at block 1212. The resulting prominence values and updated tracking information are stored, e.g., in the prominence database 104 as shown. Thereafter, when a user next visits the Web page, the links may be presented to the user in accordance with the modified prominence values.

Further with regard to FIG. 10, it will be appreciated that methodologies other than the formulas shown in Equations 1 and 2 may be used when increasing 1212 or decreasing 1216 the prominence values, and that the tracking information used to support such methodologies and the details of how such tracking information is updated 1212, 1216 will likewise vary. By way of illustration and not of limitation, the following are some examples of alternative formulas and methodologies. Formulas may be used that depend on parameters in addition to or different from visit number or time; on page visits other than or in addition to the most recent visit; on click-throughs other than or in addition to the most recent click-through; on data concerning other Web pages; or on other links, either on the same or other Web pages, etc. Moreover, different formulas may be applied to different Web pages, different links within a given Web page, for different users, at different times, etc. Conversely, the same tracking information can be used in conjunction with multiple links. For example, a particular group of links on the page may all be treated as identical for tracking purposes, and a single shared set of tracking information may be retrieved, updated, and stored regardless of which link in the group is clicked through. With respect to Equation 1 above, an alternative decay methodology may distinguish between a user visit to a page where the user interacts with one or more links and a user visit to a page where the user does not interact with any links. In the latter case, there may be no decay of the prominence of the links on the page.

Still further, choices as to whether and how much to increase or decrease the prominence of a particular link can be made to depend on the identities of the users who visit the Web page and interact with the links, and the sequence or timing in which they do so. For example, a user who visits the page once and then does not come back for quite some time, if at all, may be treated differently from a user who revisits the same page many times in rapid succession and each time clicks on a particular link therein. The latter user may, in fact, be not a legitimate user but rather an automaton whose page visits, click-throughs, or both should be ignored for purposes of varying link prominence.

Still further yet, a given link may have a pair, triplet, or other n-tuple of prominence values corresponding to multiple ways that the prominence of the link may be presented to the user. For example, in an embodiment in which link prominence varies both by color and by font size, each link may have two associated prominence values, each with its own associated methodology for increasing and decreasing prominence, and each such methodology requiring particular tracking information that may or may not be common between the two tracking methodologies. Over time, users of this embodiment may effectively cluster into two different groups, namely, those users who have established a link path according to color prominence and those who have established a link path according to font size prominence. The two paths may or may not be wholly or partially coincident. As shown by this example, the maintenance of multiple prominence values corresponding to different prominence presentations to users takes into account the fact that different users may find different sorts of links and link paths to be most valuable to them.

The tracking information associated with a prominence value or values for a link may be maintained, for example, on a prominence server, such as prominence server 102 described earlier with reference to FIG. 1. Additionally or alternatively, tracking information pertaining to a given link or set of links on a Web page may be stored as part of, or in conjunction with, the underlying Web page information, as on page server 116 described earlier with reference to FIG. 1. For example, if a Web page is represented in HTML, tracking information can be represented using hidden tags in the HTML for that page. Again additionally or alternatively, tracking information may be maintained by a client program, such as a browser on a client system 112, 114 described earlier with reference to FIG. 1. In particular, a suitably equipped Web browser may locally cache or store information about the Web pages that the user visits and about clickstream data such as which links on each visited page are (or are not) clicked through. A facility for doing this is provided, for example, by the browser toolbar available from Alexa.com. The information thus collected by the browser may be provided at appropriate intervals or on demand to the page server, prominence server, dedicated tracking information server, or other server for consolidation with like information from other, similarly equipped browsers. As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, browsers may be so equipped by initial design or by extension, as through the addition of browser plug-ins that provide suitable functionality; and such browsers may communicate with one another in peer-to-peer fashion, either in lieu of or in addition to communicating with one or more centralized servers. Further possibilities as to where and how to store, maintain, and update tracking information will be appreciated by those of skill in the art.

Moreover, it should be understood that tracking information can be determined based on link interaction of substantially all users or any subset of users of a system in which the links are operable. For example, a subset of users may be a self-defined user community (e.g., a social network), an automatically-defined user community (e.g., defined algorithmically based on user browsing or ordering behavior on an e-commerce web site), a user community defined by geographic locale (e.g., ZIP or postal code), or by affiliation with a known organization (e.g., Stanford Law graduates who are members of the Washington State Patent Law Association), etc. Preferred paths to a resource for different subsets of users can emerge based on the tracked interaction of users in the different subsets.

While tracking information and prominence data can be used to affect the prominence of display of links as described herein, it should also be understood that such information and data can be used in other ways to benefit the user. For instance, a browser (either equipped by initial design or by extension, as through the addition of a browser plug-in) can be configured to determine which link or links being displayed to a user have previously had greater user interaction and to automatically pre-load into a local cache the resource linked to by those links. One implementation may include storing in a local memory at least a portion of a resource that may be accessed upon user interaction with a link in a prominently displayed path. Such accessing or pre-loading of a resource may be done by an asynchronous HTTP call to the resource. Should the user thereafter proceed to interact with a link to a pre-loaded resource, the linked-to resource is called from the local cache, which typically provides a quicker response to the user.

Although the foregoing description with regard to the ant trail metaphor, Equations 1 and 2, FIG. 10, and so on has been set forth primarily in terms of Web pages and links, this is merely by way of example and is not intended to be limiting. Notably, other kinds of data and links, including but not limited to data and links used in other hypertext systems that may or may not be connected with the Web or the Internet, are also contemplated.

As will also be appreciated from the foregoing, implementations of the present invention may encompass a broad spectrum of systems, methods, and computer-accessible media that are useful in affecting the display of a link. The specific exemplary embodiments discussed herein are to assist in understanding aspects of the present invention, and should not be used to limit the scope of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims and equivalents thereto. 

1. A computer-implemented method for affecting a display of links in a computing system having resources with links to other resources, comprising: under control of instructions that are executed by one or more computing devices: for each link path in a set of link paths, receiving information concerning user interaction with the link path by one or more users, wherein: the set of link paths contains two or more link paths, each link path comprises a collection of links that collectively provide a traversable path to a final resource such that, in the collection of links, each link is at an intermediate resource and each link leads to another link in the collection of links until a final link in the collection of links leads to the final resource, wherein the collection of links is defined according to user interaction with the collection of links, and wherein at least two links in the collection of links are not otherwise pre-associated, and prominence data is associated with each link path, the prominence data reflecting user interaction with the link path; automatically modifying a display of each link path in the set of link paths so that the link paths in the set of link paths that experience more user interaction are displayed with greater prominence than the link paths in the set of link paths that experience less user interaction; and configuring the prominence data to automatically decay.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the prominence at which each link in a first link path of the set of link paths is to be displayed is modified relative to the prominence at which links not in the first link path are to be displayed.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the prominence at which each link in the first link path is to be displayed is increased relative to the prominence at which links not in the first link path are to be displayed.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the prominence at which each link in the first link path is to be displayed is decreased relative to a prominence at which links not in the first link path are to be displayed.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is repeated on a continuous basis.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the display of a first link path in the set of link paths is automatically modified when the received information concerning user interaction with the first link path indicates a user has interacted with the first link path so as to traverse the first link path to the final resource.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically defining a link path based on the user interaction information, and associating prominence data therewith.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically deleting link paths, and prominence data associated therewith, based on diminished user interaction with the links in the link path.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the prominence data decays over time.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the prominence data decays exponentially.
 11. The method of claim 1, where n the prominence data decays linearly.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the prominence data decays logarithmically.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the prominence data automatically decays according to the user interaction information.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein links in each link path are displayed in a display of a resource based on prominence data that decays according to instances of user access to said resource.
 15. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a display of links at varying prominence in a computing system, comprising: under control of instructions that are executed by one or more computing devices: for each link path in a set of link paths, associating prominence values with the link path, wherein a link path corresponds to a traversable path to a final resource that is represented by a collection of links containing two or more links in the computing system, wherein each link in the link path is at an intermediate resource and leads to another link in the link path until a final link in the link path leads to the final resource, wherein the link path is defined according to user interaction with the link path, wherein at least two links in the link path are not otherwise pre-associated, and wherein the prominence values affect a prominence at which the links in the link path are displayed; receiving information concerning user interaction with a first link path in the set of paths; automatically modifying the prominence value of a second link path in the set of link paths based on the received user interaction information concerning user interaction with the first link path; and causing the prominence values associated with the link paths in the set of link paths to automatically decay.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising modifying the prominence value of the first link path to increase the prominence of the first link path while modifying the prominence value of the second link path to decrease the prominence of the second link path.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the second link path has two or more prominence values associated therewith, and the prominence value of the second link path that is modified depends on the received user interaction information.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein each prominence value of the second link path affects a different display parameter when the link is displayed.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the second link path is displayed in accordance with a prominence value chosen based on a context in which the link path is to be displayed.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein the prominence value of the second link path decays according to a methodology that is different from a decay methodology for the prominence value of the first link path.
 21. The method of claim 15, wherein the second link path has two or more prominence values associated therewith, and each prominence value of the second link path is modified based on the received user interaction information.
 22. The method of claim 15, further comprising modifying the prominence value of the second link path, differently based on an identification of a user associated with the user interaction information.
 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising modifying the prominence value of the second link path differently based on a timing of the user's interaction with the first link.
 24. The method of claim 15, wherein user interaction information is received from a first user and the prominence data of the second link path is modified to affect a display of the link path to a user other than the first user.
 25. A tangible non-transitory computer-accessible medium having instructions stored thereon for facilitating a display of links at varying prominence in a computing system, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the computing system, direct the computing system to: for each link path in a set of link paths, associate a prominence value with the link paths, wherein each link path comprises a collection of links that collectively provide a traversable path to a final resource, wherein each link in a link path is at an intermediate resource and leads to another link in the link path until a final link in the link path leads to the final resource, wherein each link path is defined according to user interaction with the link path, wherein at least two links in the link path are not otherwise pre-associated, and wherein the prominence value of the link path affects a prominence at which the link path is displayed; and receive information concerning user interaction with a first link path in the set of link paths; and automatically modify the prominence value associated with the first link path based on the received information so that a prominence at which the first link path is displayed is modified; wherein the prominence value of each link path is automatically decayed.
 26. The computer-accessible medium of claim 25, wherein the prominence value of each link path is automatically decayed over time.
 27. The computer-accessible medium of claim 25, wherein the prominence value of each link path is automatically decayed according to the user interaction information.
 28. A computer-implemented method for exposing, from a plurality of links, a link path forming a desirable path to a final destination, the method comprising: under control of instructions that are executed by one or more computing devices: tracking user interaction with a plurality of link paths, wherein each link path within said plurality of link paths forms a path to the final destination, wherein each link path contains two or more links, wherein each link in each link path is at an intermediate destination and leads to another link in the link path until a final link in the link path leads to the final destination, wherein each link path is defined according to user interaction with the link path, and wherein at least two links in the link path are not otherwise pre-associated; and as user interaction with the plurality of link paths is tracked, adjusting a prominence of a first link path that includes a link with which a user interacts, so that each link in the first link path forming a desirable path to the final destination is displayed with greater prominence; wherein the prominence of the first link path forming a desirable path to the final destination automatically decays.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the link paths forming less desirable paths to the final destination are displayed with lesser prominence than the link paths forming a desirable path to the final destination.
 30. The method of claim 29, wherein link paths forming less desirable paths to the final destination are displayed with varying prominence.
 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the link paths forming less desirable paths to the final destination are displayed with decreasing prominence.
 32. The method of claim 28, further comprising deleting a link path based on diminished user interaction with the links in the link path.
 33. The method of claim 28, wherein said prominence automatically decays over time.
 34. The method of claim 28, wherein said prominence automatically decays exponentially.
 35. The method of claim 28, wherein said prominence automatically decays linearly.
 36. The method of claim 28, wherein said prominence automatically decays logarithmically.
 37. The method of claim 28, wherein said prominence automatically decays according to tracked user interaction.
 38. The method of claim 37, wherein a link path with which a user interacts is displayed in a display of a resource, and wherein the prominence of said link path when displayed decays according to instances of user access to said resource.
 39. The method of claim 28, wherein tracking user interaction includes tracking interaction of substantially all users of a system in which the plurality of link paths is operable.
 40. The method of claim 28, wherein tracking user interaction includes tracking interaction of a subset of users of a system in which the plurality of link paths is operable.
 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the subset of users is self-defined by the users.
 42. The method of claim 40, wherein the subset of users is automatically defined based on tracked user interaction.
 43. The method of claim 40, wherein the subset of users is defined by geographic locale of the users.
 44. The method of claim 40, wherein the subset of users is defined by user affiliation with a known organization.
 45. The method of claim 28, further comprising storing in a local memory at least a portion of a resource that may be accessed upon user interaction with a link path forming a desirable path to the final destination.
 46. The method of claim 1, wherein the prominence data associated with a link path is automatically modified so that the prominence at which the link path is to be displayed is modified.
 47. The computer-accessible medium of claim 25, wherein the prominence value associated with a link path is automatically modified so that the prominence at which the link path is displayed is modified.
 48. The method of claim 28, wherein the prominence associated with a link path is adjusted so that the link path forming the path to the final destination is displayed with greater prominence. 